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Theoretical and Experimental Modal Analysis of Beam

Chapter  in  Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering · January 2019

DOI: 10.1007/978-981-13-1642-5_16

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Theoretical and Experimental Modal
Analysis of Beam

Jai Kumar Sharma

Abstract Vibration analysis of the beam components is extremely helpful in engi-

neering analysis and design. Experimental modal analysis is the process to determine
the modal parameters in the form of natural frequency, mode shape, and damp-
ing. This paper presents a theoretical, experimental, and numerical modal analysis
of beam in free-free and simply supported boundary condition. The experimen-
tal modal analysis (EMA) of the beam excited using impact hammer is performed
with the help of a Laser Vibrometer. With the help of MATLAB program, the sig-
nal from time domain to frequency domain is converted into the frequency domain
using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). The finite element modeling (FEM) software,
ANSYS workbench 14.5, performed the numerical modal analysis of beam. Thus, the
obtained natural frequency and mode shapes of the free-free and simply supported
beam are compared with results obtained through theoretical. The comparison of
all three results, i.e., theoretical results, numerical results, and experimental results
shows that the results are all well within the reasonable error margin. It will help
the researchers and engineers for the better design and development of engineering
components.

Keywords Experimental · Impact hammer · Laser vibrometer

1 Introduction

The experimental and numerical modal analysis of engineering component always

provides an extreme contribution to our effort for better understanding and to con-
trol many vibration problems encountered in practice [1]. The accurate boundary
conditions, damping, and actual rigidity cannot forecast for complex engineering
components using the theoretical modal analysis [2]. So, the determined results have
certain error with real results. The EMA was first used in the 1940s, for analysis

J. K. Sharma (B)
Department of Mechanical Engineering, ITM University, Gwalior, India
e-mail: jaikumarsharma94@gmail.com

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019 177

K. Ray et al. (eds.), Engineering Vibration, Communication and Information
Processing, Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering 478,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1642-5_16
178 J. K. Sharma

of dynamic behavior of structures with help of sine dwell method. Using EMA, we
can find the mode shapes at natural frequencies, the damping at natural frequency,
and natural frequency of engineering components [3]. In the past two decades, this
methodology based on FFT approach has received a lot of attention. This method also
enables engineers and researchers to get a well understanding of dynamic properties
of structures.
Experimental modal analysis using laser vibrometer is noncontact testing, based
on vibration response of the structure. The impact hammer is widely used in EMA for
excitation of engineering structure. Miguel et al. [4] determined the modal param-
eters, i.e., natural frequency, mode shapes, and damping of cantilever steel beam
through experiment and compared the experimental results with theoretical and
numerical results. Prashant et al. [5] investigated the modal parameter of the rectan-
gular beam through experiment. Thus, the obtained results from the experiment are
compared with theoretical and numerical results. The experimental modal analysis
of bladed wheel using laser Doppler vibrometer was performed by Bertini et al. [6].
There are two units in laser vibrometer; one is laser sensor head and another one is
an electronic unit. The first unit has CCD camera for better visualization and another
unit which process the signal [7]. Prasad et al. [8] determined the frequency, mode
shape, and damping of different materials beams. In this paper, the material used
for beams are Steel, Copper, Brass, and Aluminum and the beam is excited using
impact hammer. In the present paper, experimental, theoretical, and finite element
modal analysis of the beam is carried out. The laser vibrometer is used for performing
the experimental modal analysis and ANSYS Workbench software is used for finite
element modeling.

2 Theoretical Modal Analysis

A beam is an inclined or horizontal structural member that is subjected to loads

exerting transversely to the longitudinal axis. There are two types of beam theories
which are commonly used namely Euler–Bernoulli’s beam theory and Timoshenko
beam theory. In the Euler–Bernoulli’s beam theory, the rotation effects and the shear
deformation are neglected, plane sections remain plane and is normal to longitudinal
axis but in the Timoshenko beam theory, the plane section still remaining plane are no
longer perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. Consider an Euler–Bernoulli’s uniform
beam undergoing transverse vibration conditions. For free vibration, the equation of
motion of beam can be present as [9].

∂ 4w ∂ 2w
EI + ρA 0 (1)
∂x4 ∂t 2
∂ 4w ∂ 2w
c2 4 + 2  0 (2)
∂x ∂t
Theoretical and Experimental Modal Analysis of Beam 179

EI
c (3)
ρA

In Eq. (1), w is the displacement t is the time x is the position in the beam 0 to L,
E is the Young’s modulus of the beam, ρ is the mass density of beam and A is the
cross-section area of the beam. The solution of differential equation can be found
using the method of variable separation [9].

w(x, t)  w(x)T (t) (4)

Using Eqs. (1) and (4)

c2 d 4 w 1 d 2T
T  − a (5)
w dx4 T dT 2

where a  ω2 is a constant. The Eq. (5) can be written in two forms, so the first form
equation will be

d 4 w(x)
− β 4 w(x)  0 (6)
dx4
where

ρAω2
β4  (7)
EI
And, other form equation obtained from (5) will be

d 2 T (t)
+ ω2 T (t)  0 (8)
dt 2
The solution of Eq. (8) can be written as

T (t)  A cosωt + B sinωt (9)

Using the initial boundary conditions can be determined the value of constant A
and B in Eq. (9).
The solution of Eq. (6) is

W (x)  Cesx (10)

Using Eqs. (6) and (11) obtained the general solution.

w (x)  c1 (cosβx + coshβx) + c2 (cosβx − coshβx)

+ c3 (sinβx + sinhβx) + c4 (sinβx − sinhβx) (11)
180 J. K. Sharma

The value of c1, c2, c3 and c4 can be determined from the boundary conditions
of the beam. At ends, the displacement and the bending moment is zero in simply
supported boundary condition. Thus, Eq. (11) becomes

sinβl  0 (12)

If the beam is free at both the ends then the shear force and bending moment must
be zero at the free end. Thus,Eq. (11) becomes

cosβlcoshβl  0 (13)

From the Eq. (7), the natural frequency of beam ωn can be written as

EI
ωn  (βl) 2
(14)
ρAl 4

The value of (βl)2 is determined using Eqs. (12) and (13) for simply supported
and free-free boundary conditions. The material and geometric parameters used for
theoretical and finite element modal analysis of beam are shown in Table 1. Table 2
displays the first three natural frequencies of beams using Eq. (14).

Table 1 The material and geometric parameters of beam

Material parameter Geometric parameter (m)
E  2.05 × 1011 N/m2 L  1.044
ρ 7830 Kg/m3 B  0.023
ϑ  0.3 t  0.005

Table 2 The theoretically obtained natural frequencies of beam

End conditions Mode Theoretical frequency (Hz)
Simply supported 1 10.61
2 42.47
3 95.56
Free-free 1 24.07
2 66.353
3 130.07
Theoretical and Experimental Modal Analysis of Beam 181

3 Experimental Modal Analysis

The objective of experimental modal analysis of beam is to deduce natural frequencies

up to the third mode and observe the system response subjected to small initial
disturbance. Due to initial deflection in the system itself, the free vibration takes place
in the absence of externally applied forces. The experimental setup was prepared to
get free-free, and simply supported boundary conditions of the beam. For the free-
free boundary condition, the beam is hanged on thin wires to carry out the experiment
(Fig. 1). The care has been taken that wire stiffness is extremely small in comparison
to the beam and the support does not offer any resistance to the motion providing
virtually free boundary conditions. For simply supported boundary conditions, the
beam is supported on the roller at one end and another end is hinged to carry out the
experiment as shown in Fig. 1b. The test structure is mounted on the heavy frame to
provide proper isolation from the other ground disturbances.
The experimental procedure for both boundary conditions is the same for deter-
mination of the natural frequency of the beam. First, the beam is excited (at different
points) by using impact hammer. It sets up free vibrations in the beam. The ensuing
vibrations of the beam are measured with the help of a laser vibrometer (Polytec
laser vibrometer NLV-2500). The ray of laser light impacts on the beam and the
displacement is measured with respect to time by selecting the displacement module
on the controller. To provide proper reflection, a small miniscule reflecting sticker
is attached to the beam at the point of measurement. The laser vibrometer has two
units––one is an electronic unit which processes the signal and the other is laser
sensor head having CCD camera for better visualization. Finally, the excited signal
from the laser vibrometer is fed to a digital oscilloscope (NB207C1) in which the
data is processed. The signals in the time domain are saved in the USB drive from the
digital oscilloscope. The time domain signal is converted into the frequency domain

Fig. 1 Experimental setup of a free-free beam and b simply supported beam

182 J. K. Sharma

(a)Time domain response (b) Frequency domain response

Fig. 2 Response of beam in a time domain and b frequency domain for an S-S beam

Table 3 Experimentally obtained natural frequencies of beam

End conditions Mode Experimental frequency (Hz)
Simply supported 1 12.21
2 37.62
3 –
Free-free 1 25.63
2 77.51
3 128.8

using Fast Fourier Transformation with the help of MATLAB program. The experi-
mental setup is designed and fabricated to determine the natural frequency of beam
in different boundary conditions. The boundary conditions considered for the present
experimental work are free, free-free and simply supported as described above. The
beam was excited with the help of impact hammer and response was captured using
vibrometer. The experimentally obtained natural frequencies of the beam for various
boundary conditions are tabulated in Table 3.
The time domain signal is converted into the frequency domain signal using the
FFT with the help of MATLAB program. The time domain and frequency domain
response for a simply supported beam are shown in Fig. 2.
We can see in the frequency domain graph of simply supported beam, the first peak
occurs at the first natural frequency (12.21 Hz) and the second peak is at a second
natural frequency (37.62 Hz). The time domain and frequency domain response for
the free-free beam is shown in Fig. 3. From these figures, it can be seen that the
first peak occurs at the first natural frequency (25.63 Hz), the second peak is at a
second natural frequency (77.51 Hz), and the third peak is at a third natural frequency
(128.8 Hz) for the free-free beam. In the case of simply supported beam, the higher
modes of the beam, cannot be excited using impact hammer.
Theoretical and Experimental Modal Analysis of Beam 183

(a)Time domain response (b) Frequency domain response

Fig. 3 Response of beam in a time domain and b frequency domain for free-free beam

4 Finite Element Modeling

The finite element modal analysis of beam using the ANSYS workbench 14.5 is
carried out in three boundary conditions. The boundary conditions used for the anal-
ysis are free-free and simply supported. The material and geometric parameters is
taken from Table 1. The three-dimensional finite element model of the beam is con-
structed in ANSYS workbench and then computational modal analysis is carrying
out to generate natural frequencies and mode shapes. Thus, natural frequencies in
bending mode obtained for beam using ANSYS workbench is shown in Table 4. The
corresponding numerically obtained mode shapes for different boundary conditions
of the beam are shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

Table 4 Numerical natural frequency (Hz)

End conditions Mode Numerical natural frequency
(Hz)
Simply supported 1 10.64
2 42.57
3 95.79
Free-free 1 24.12
2 66.505
3 130.37
184 J. K. Sharma

(a) First Mode (b) Second Mode

(c) Third Mode

Fig. 4 Mode shapes and corresponding natural frequency of simply supported beam

5 Comparison of Results

The theoretical natural frequencies are calculated using the Eq. (14) and finite ele-
ment natural frequencies are determined using the FEM software ANSYS workbench
14.5. The experimental natural frequencies are determined using laser vibrometer
with impact hammer excitation method. Table 5 displays the numerical and experi-
mental natural frequencies of the beam in free-free and simply supported boundary
conditions.
Theoretical and Experimental Modal Analysis of Beam 185

(a) First mode (b) Second Mode

(c) Third Mode

Fig. 5 Mode shapes and corresponding natural frequency of free-free beam

6 Conclusions

In present work theoretical, experimental, and numerical modal analysis of beam

performed in simply supported and free-free boundary conditions. It can be observed
that in the experiment it was not possible to excite the third mode in simply supported
boundary condition. Similarly, the fourth and higher modes cannot be excited in free-
free boundary conditions of the beam using the impact hammer. For determination
of higher modes, the sine sweep test can be more effective. The experimental and
numerical results for the beam are found to have an extremely good correlation.
Some error between the results is also introduced by physical dimensions of beam
 186 J. K. Sharma

Table 5 Comparison between theoretical, numerical, and experimental results for beam
End conditions Mode Numerical Theoretical Experimental
frequency (Hz) frequency (Hz) frequency (Hz)
Simply supported 1 10.64 10.61 12.21
2 42.57 42.47 37.62
3 95.79 95.56 –
Free-free 1 24.12 24.07 25.63
2 66.505 66.353 77.51
3 130.37 130.07 128.8

and variation of Young’s modulus. The overall analysis shows that the results are all
well within the reasonable error margin. The modal analysis techniques presented in
this paper may be helpful in dynamic analysis, developing and optimizing the design
of complex engineering structure and component.

Acknowledgments Authors are very indebted to the referee for his/her several productive remarks
and suggestions, which pointedly improved the worth of the paper.

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